ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

No, leagues and teams are encouraging to play with your age cohort. This forced to play up thing is a figment of one person's imagination.

Ok autistic

You lost the discussion when you just attacked an anon messenger with a senseless comment.

Theres no win or lose in this discussion.

You're just going to keep screeching the same thing about grade in school not mattering. Parents that listen to you will find out thhe hard way that it most certainly does.

Everybody should play on age and the best of the best should play up, regardless of birth month. -ECNL, Socal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

How exactly do you "hold the line and not dictate ever little thing" ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

The soccer parenting website had an article that advocated for July 1, in order to help more people who might be misaligned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

How exactly do you "hold the line and not dictate ever little thing" ?

I guess you mean hold the line on being ambiguous? Its like choosing to not put a stop sign at a four way intersection. Everyone knows whats going to happen next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

How exactly do you "hold the line and not dictate ever little thing" ?

Keep it simple; 12 month age window, 8/1 -7/31, coordinate with other leagues on the above and then start the soccer games with no debate on nonsense. They get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the rub ... You can tell they don't want a rule; otherwise they'd wouldn't write around it.

Here's what I think will happen...

Top clubs that can pick and choose players for their top teams will group by 8/1-7/31 and force younger players to play with their grade. They'll have an internal policy to not mess around with playing down a grade.

Crappy clubs will take what thay can get and will roster players a grade down.

If no rule you'll see playing down with youngers. It wont happen on older teams because of recruiting

Overall everyone would be better off with a rule to stop parents that are looking for loopholes to play down.

There will be no loopholes to play down on age. It is too late to run up the flagpole and implement something like biobanding for non MLSN leagues for 2026-7 season.

Biobanding has nothing to do with what was written.

The only way to play down would be a loophole.

SY+30 wants the loophole to play down. I think his kid is July. Just 1 month short.

Maybe, don't know. But just crazy how much they want this special thing that everyone realizes is peanuts. Their constant harping on pushing for whatever helps them shows why leagues have to hold the line and not dictate ever little thing. They can't start a leak in the dam or it will break.

How exactly do you "hold the line and not dictate ever little thing" ?

I guess you mean hold the line on being ambiguous? Its like choosing to not put a stop sign at a four way intersection. Everyone knows whats going to happen next.

Nothing ambiguous about 8/1 to 7/31 just like there was nothing ambiguous about 1/1 to 12/31.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody discussing the aug older grade playing down when they are in ninth grade and abandoning the team to play high school for half the season while all the 8th graders stay behind. Coaches don’t want that disruption I wouldn’t think. My gut is most kids in that situation play up with grade by coaches choice.

I've been pointing this out for a while. What 8th grade coach wants to roster a grade older player thats wont play with your team for 3-4 months during HS soccer season. On top of that they'll probabaly skip games for things like homecoming, prom, etc.

But dont let reality get in the way of wanting to play down a grade.

Makes no sense, no school's 8th grade team has HS playing for them.

Welcome to the other side of the coin after changing from BY to SY. Under SY some Aug and younger players might be freshman in HS but eligible to play on an 8th grade team. Its the opposite of a trapped player. As you can see there is one person commenting here who is very excited for players to play down in SY. You never saw this in BY because everyone is forced to play with their grade or up a grade.

You are stupid. It is a 12-month age group. Grade is not part of the rule. It is the Aug player's personal choice whether he wants to play UP in the older age group, and he must be accepted by the older age group coach. Nobody is playing down. Only the biobanding players who play in the next 12-month group are playing down. If you want to shame someone who plays down, that is your target, not the Aug. players.

Soccer as a sports is grouped by your age, not your grade. A genius might go to school early and by your definition, he is playing down. If you play in your age group, you are not playing down. If you play in the younger age group, you are playing down. If Junior plays in the Frosh team, then he is playing down. Obviously, nobody wants to do it.

I want to THANK YOU PERSONALLY for killing an entire thread. I used to check here often, but it's turned into complete crap because you can't stop. I know you won't care, but you single handedly derailed a national thread about an important topic because you just can't stop. I won't be back here until MLSN announces or we get some "special" carve outs/exemptions. Have a great holiday weekend and I hope you relish in the fact you are this annoying.

This. It’s really disappointing we can’t move on and discuss something else.

[Anonymous]

Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

Mlsnext really rolling the dice with that decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

A hot mess if next 1 and 2 are different. Too confusing for forming teams and player mobility. Unnecessary as well. I’m hearing all p2p for next going SY. Hopefully they announce soon so families can decide if they want to try out in Nov/dec for a new club for the Spring season. No sense being stuck in a lame duck spring with a club/team that is going to add a bolts of uncertainty with multiple age cutoffs for the top 2 teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

A hot mess if next 1 and 2 are different. Too confusing for forming teams and player mobility. Unnecessary as well. I’m hearing all p2p for next going SY. Hopefully they announce soon so families can decide if they want to try out in Nov/dec for a new club for the Spring season. No sense being stuck in a lame duck spring with a club/team that is going to add a bolts of uncertainty with multiple age cutoffs for the top 2 teams.

Every spring team is a lame duck, every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

A hot mess if next 1 and 2 are different. Too confusing for forming teams and player mobility. Unnecessary as well. I’m hearing all p2p for next going SY. Hopefully they announce soon so families can decide if they want to try out in Nov/dec for a new club for the Spring season. No sense being stuck in a lame duck spring with a club/team that is going to add a bolts of uncertainty with multiple age cutoffs for the top 2 teams.

Every spring team is a lame duck, every year.

Not at all. Spring season is motivating to help solidify next season placement. But if MLsN clubs are going to throw in extra uncertainty, subjectivity, and confusion in a process that is already overloaded with it, then we’ll explore ECNL clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

A hot mess if next 1 and 2 are different. Too confusing for forming teams and player mobility. Unnecessary as well. I’m hearing all p2p for next going SY. Hopefully they announce soon so families can decide if they want to try out in Nov/dec for a new club for the Spring season. No sense being stuck in a lame duck spring with a club/team that is going to add a bolts of uncertainty with multiple age cutoffs for the top 2 teams.

Every spring team is a lame duck, every year.

This will be a whole new level of lame duck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Families,

We want to educate you and update you on the important change taking place next year across most if not all of soccer in the US at the club, league, and team level: the shift from birth year to school year for team formation, in alignment with the latest directive from US Soccer.

What’s Changing?

Going forward, “school year” will be defined as August 1 to July 31, and teams will be formed based on this calendar rather than by birth year.

Who Will This Affect?
We will adopt this new format for all teams in the club competing in:

SoCal League
GA and GA Aspire
Anticipated: MLS NEXT and Elite Academy (EA) with information coming out soon.

While we await final confirmation from MLS NEXT, early indications suggest that MLS NEXT HD may stay Birth Year and MLS NEXT AD will move to school year along with EA.

This would then mean that all teams in the club across all leagues will follow the school-year model with MLS NEXT HD being maybe the only one staying birth year.

How Are We Preparing?
Our club has already conducted a full review of current rosters to assess the teams. The majority of teams will remain largely intact. However, many players will shift down an age group based on the new cutoff. In most cases, this will strengthen our teams due to the high level of depth and competition within each age group.

Please note that every team and every player is evaluated individually as we go through this process.

As with previous transitions, such as when US Soccer last shifted from school year to birth year, teams emerged stronger — a testament to our deep and talented player pool. We fully expect similar positive results this time around.

Next Steps
We will begin setting up school-year age group training sessions in November, as the SoCal season concludes. This will allow us to assess players in their new groupings and begin planning for the 2026–2027 season.

We’re committed to making this transition as smooth and organized as possible.

A hot mess if next 1 and 2 are different. Too confusing for forming teams and player mobility. Unnecessary as well. I’m hearing all p2p for next going SY. Hopefully they announce soon so families can decide if they want to try out in Nov/dec for a new club for the Spring season. No sense being stuck in a lame duck spring with a club/team that is going to add a bolts of uncertainty with multiple age cutoffs for the top 2 teams.

Every spring team is a lame duck, every year.

This will be a whole new level of lame duck.

Don't disagree. But the drama here about it gets over the top.